Santiago Zabala (born 1975) is a philosopher (raised in Rome, Vienna, and Geneva) and ICREA Research Professor of

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

at the

Pompeu Fabra University Pompeu Fabra University ( ca, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, UPF, ; es, link=no, Universidad Pompeu Fabra) is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia in Spain. The university was created by the Autonomous Government of Catalo ...

. His books have been translated into several languages and his articles have been published in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', ''

Al Jazeera English Al Jazeera English (AJE; ar, الجزيرة‎, translit=al-jazīrah, , literally "The Peninsula", referring to the Qatar Peninsula) is an international 24-hour English-language news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network, which is own ...

'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', and the ''

Los Angeles Review of Books The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 2012. ...

'', among other international media outlets.

Philosophy

His books, articles, and research focus on the meaning of art, politics, and freedom in the twenty-first century when, as he claims, "the greatest emergency has become the absence of emergency." The goal of philosophy for Zabala is to thrust us into these absent emergencies (such as climate change or economic inequality) in order to disrupt the ongoing “return to order” that surveillance capitalism and right-wing populism are imposing upon us. These problems are discussed in his most recent books—''Being at Large: Freedom in the Age of Alternative Facts'' (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2020) and ''Why Only Art Can Save Us: Aesthetics and the Absence of Emergency'' (Columbia University Press, 2017)—and in many articles. His forthcoming books are ''Outspoken: A Manifesto for the 21st Century'' (with Adrian Parr) and ''Signs from the Future. A Philosophy of Warnings.''

Career

Zabala is ICREA Research Professor at the

, where he currently teaches contemporary and political philosophy, supervises Ph.D. students and directs the UPF Center for Vattimo's Archives and Philosophy. In addition to an extensive speaking schedule at conferences, festivals, and art Biennales, Zabala is also visiting professor in several European, Asian, and American Universities.

Critics

The Journal ''"Iride"'' released a forum in 2021 with critical articles by Simona Venezia, Valerio Rocco Lozano and Federico Vercellone on Zabala's ''Being at Large''. The Journal ''"Lebenswelt. Aesthetics and Philosophy of Experience"'' released a forum in 2019 with critical articles by Amanda Boetzkes, Daniela Angelucci, Ivelise Perniola, and Paul Kottmann on Zabala's ''Why Only Art can Save Us''. The forum also includes responses by Zabala. In 2017 S. Mazzini and O. Glyn-Williams released a book on ''Hermeneutic Communism'' published by Springer Verlag, ''Making Communism Hermeneutic: Reading Vattimo and Zabala'', with critical contributions from 17 renown scholars from all over the world as well as Vattimo and Zabala's responses. According to Hamid Dabashi "European thinkers like Žižek and Zabala, important and insightful as they are in their own immediate circles, are out of touch with these realities, and to the degree that they are they cannot come to terms with their unfolding particularities in terms immediate to their idiomaticities. For them "Philosophy" is a mental gymnastics performed with the received particulars of European philosophy in its postmodern or poststructuralist registers – exciting and productive to the degree that they can be." Zabala's response to Dabashi in Al-Jazeera. Also, Brian Leiter criticized Zabala on his blog (Leiter Reports).Santiago Zabala is not a competent philosopher
/ref> Columbia University Press Blog posted Zabala's response to Leiter

Bibliography

Author: * ''Being at Large. Freedom in the Age of Alternative Facts'' (2020). Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. Translated into Spanish an
Italian
* ''Why Only Art can Save Us. Aesthetics and the Absence of Emergency'' (2017). New York: Columbia University Press. * ''

Hermeneutic Communism ''Hermeneutic Communism: from Heidegger to Marx'' is a 2011 book of political philosophy and Marxist hermeneutics by Gianni Vattimo and Santiago Zabala. Contents and arguments The authors explain the book as follows "Although the material publis ...

'' (2011, coauthored with G. Vattimo) New York: Columbia University Press. Translated into Italian, Spanish, and Turkish. * ''The Remains of Being'' (2009). New York: Columbia University Press. Translated into Chinese and Spanish. * ''The Hermeneutic Nature of Analytic Philosophy. A Study of E. Tugendhat'' (2008). New York: Columbia University Press. Translated into Italian. Editor * ''Outspoken: A Manifesto for the 21st Century,'' edited by

Adrian Parr Adrian Parr (born 1967) is an Australian-born philosopher and cultural critic. She specializes in environmental philosophy and activism. In addition, she published on the sustainability movement, climate change politics, activist culture, an ...

and Santiago Zabala (2023) Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. * ''Being at its Surroundings,'' by Gianni Vattimo, edited by A. Martinengo, G. Iannantuono, and S. Zabala (2022) Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. * ''The Future of Religion,'' by

Richard Rorty Richard McKay Rorty (October 4, 1931 – June 8, 2007) was an American philosopher. Educated at the University of Chicago and Yale University, he had strong interests and training in both the history of philosophy and in contemporary analytic phi ...

and Gianni Vattimo, edited by S. Zabala, (2005) New York: Columbia University Press. Translated in 16 languages. * ''Consequences of Hermeneutics'' (2010, co-edited with Jeff Malpas) Northwestern University Press. * ''Nihilism and Emancipation,'' by Gianni Vattimo, edited by S. Zabala, (2004) New York: Columbia University Press. Translated in 6 languages. * ''Weakening Philosophy,'' edited by S. Zabala (2007) Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. Translated into Spanish and Italian. * ''Art's Claim to Truth,'' by Gianni Vattimo, edited by S. Zabala (2008) New York: Columbia University Press. * ''On Philosophical Education'', edited by S. Zabala. Special Issue of ''Philosophy Today: An International Journal of Contemporary Philosophy'', Volume 61, Issue 2 (Spring 2017). With contributions from

Judith Butler Judith Pamela Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American philosopher and gender theorist whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory. In 1993, Butler ...

Simon Critchley Simon Critchley (born 27 February 1960) is an English philosopher and the Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York, USA. Challenging the ancient tradition that philosophy begins in wonder, Critchley ...

, and others. * ''The Emergency of Philosophy'', edited by S. Zabala. Special Issue of ''Philosophy Today: An International Journal of Contemporary Philosophy'', Volume 59, Issue 4 (Fall 2015). With contributions from Adrian Parr,

Bonnie Honig Bonnie Honig (born 1959), is a political, feminist, and legal theorist specializing in democratic theory. In 2013-14, she became Nancy Duke Lewis Professor-Elect of Modern Culture and Media and Political Science at Brown University, succeeding A ...

, and others. * ''Being Shaken'', (2014, co-edited with M. Marder) Palgrave.

References

External links